Director for Libraries at Arts Council England reflects on career achievements

In 2018, building on our previous support through the Grants for the Arts funding programme, we admitted libraries to the National Portfolio for the very first time. Six library services were successful and were joined by Libraries Connected as a Sector Support Organisation. In this 2023-26 Investment Programme, we’ll be welcoming 10 new library services to join the original six National Portfolio Organisations (NPO), an increase of 166%. In addition, the Association of Children’s and Educational Librarians (ASCEL) will be joining Libraries Connected as an Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO). We are tripling our funding for libraries through the portfolio, fulfilling our commitment to increasing investment in libraries made in our strategy for 2020-2030, Let’s Create. 

Photo by Storyhouse © Mark Carline

In the 2018 investment round, building on the Grants for the Arts programme, we admitted libraries to the portfolio for the very first time. 6 library services were successful and were joined by Libraries Connected as a Sector Support Organisation. In this investment round, we’ll be welcoming 10 new library services to the portfolio, an increase of 166%. In addition, ASCEL, the Association of Children’s and Educational Librarians, will be joining Libraries Connected as an IPSO.  We‘ll have tripled our financial investment in Libraries through the NPO route, fulfilling our commitment to increasing investment in Libraries as stated in our 2020-30 Strategy, Let’s Create. 

We’ve also fundamentally opened up National Lottery Project Grants (NLPG) so that more libraries can apply to do more activities. Libraries can apply to do work around their four stated Universal Offers of Reading, Creativity and Culture, Health and Well-Being and Information and Digital. This is important because it enables us to support libraries to become even better. For those libraries becoming NPOs, they’ll still be able to apply through this route for projects delivering the other three Universal Offers that aren’t Creativity and Culture. In the first quarter of the last financial year, we doubled our investment in libraries through NLPG. 

Taking our role as development agency for libraries even further, the Arts Council is now firmly established as Chair of the English Public Libraries Strategic Working Group (EPL). This group consists of the key sector stakeholders, who come together to drive work to support resilience and development in the sector. EPL has set in motion work on vital topics such as financial resilience and data collection and usage.  

The Arts Council has supported the development of an accreditation model for public libraries and our Executive Board has just approved work to progress this programme to the next stage on the road to administration by our organisation.    

We’ve also helped to position English public libraries at the centre of the work on environmental responsibility through the Green Libraries project, funded by us and led by CILIP, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals. We’ve raised the profile of libraries abroad through both this project and through the Working Internationally programme, which was also funded by us and led by CILIP.  

We’re also investing in the Single Digital Presence platform, working with the British Library, which, when completed, should have both national and international significance. 

With 3,000 buildings across the country, 66% of which are on or near the high street, libraries are integral to our work in local areas. They deliver against our agendas, such as health and well-being and social justice. We’ve commissioned research that proves their impact in these areas and in that of employment, from jobseekers to entrepreneurs. There are public libraries in all our Priority Places, with 93% having immediate access to another three branch libraries in their area through a hub and spoke delivery model, representing a great opportunity for community engagement. 

We’ve established public libraries as integral to the work of our literature team in supporting the reading for pleasure agenda. All English library services helped deliver The 100 Novels that Changed my World programme and the Big Jubilee Read, both funded by us, ensuring that the reach of those programmes was as wide as possible. During the pandemic, we invested in every library service to enable them to increase their digital holdings for borrowers.  

Many library services have supported the work of our touring organisations and we’ve seen some brilliant cultural partnerships develop. We’ve also supported public libraries through the government’s Libraries Improvement Fund and, with Libraries Connected, we’re about to oversee the administration of £2.5 million of government money for libraries supporting volunteers, the lonely and those suffering in the current economic climate through the Know Your Neighbourhoods fund. 

As I prepare to leave the Arts Council, I’m very proud of what the team and I have achieved and that libraries are recognised as being, to quote Let’s Create, at the heart of our strategy. As the national development agency for libraries, we’ve grown both our impact in the library sector and the engagement of the sector with us. These were my two key objectives when I joined the Arts Council in 2018 and I’m delighted with the progress so far.  

I‘m sure that libraries will continue to thrive and develop in our organisation and to contribute to our agendas as the great cultural organisations that they are. 

Author: Sue Williamson, Director for Libraries at Arts Council England

Article originally published on the Arts Council England website.